listen to some early iron maiden they have the easiest melodic stuff there is to play, but it also sounds impressive

they use a blues minor scale and the same 3 chords in 70 to 80 percent of there music

and most of it from there early albums is very easy to learn

C.D.E or E.D.C. or F.G.A. OR A.G.F. with a B minor thrown every now and then The best way to come up with melodic solos is to get away from scales. Complete scales are amelodic by nature -- it is the variations of intervals between notes that creates "musical"-sounding solos. Slash of Guns N' Roses, for example, a master at melodic solos, usually pre-composes his solos on recordings so that he knows exactly what to play by the time he records. This isn't always necessary (Jimmy Page's melodic solo on "Stairway to Heaven", for example, was improvised), but a composer's mindset tends to help. For example, listen to the legendary harmonized solos at the end of "Hotel California". You can hear the very deliberate, structured, melodic approach in the first solo by Don Felder (who also composed the song), versus the more instinctive, licks-driven, looser second solo by Joe Walsh. And it is also no surprise that the final harmonies were all pre-composed by Felder. One underrated genius of melodic riffs and solos is Dave Mustaine of Megadeth. He finds many, many melodies within the same pentatonic scales all blues players use, and adds a sophisticated harmonic sense which is jazz-like. Many of Metallica and Megadeth's songs with Mustaine's involvement are extremely catchy and well composed: "The Four Horsemen", "Ride the Lightning", "The Call of Ktulu", "Hangar 18", "Trust", "Holy Wars...The Punishment Due", "Symphony of Destruction" and "Train of Consequences", just to name a few. The test I like to apply is to see if I can sing the entire solo note for note. If it makes sense to a singer, it's a melodic solo.